Regent Law News

When it comes to his life, visiting professor Wade Berryhill has, what he calls, a simple mission statement: “When God says to do something, I say, ‘yes,’” said Berryhill. He’s followed this route, from entering law school at the University of Arkansas, through his career as a trial attorney and his 37 years of teaching at the University of Richmond. Now, he adds Regent University to the list. Visiting Professor Wade Berryhill “I didn’t have any doubt the day Dean [Michael] Hernandez called,” said Berryhill. “I said a quick prayer and realized this is where I needed to be.” He was tapped to teach Contracts to first-year law students. But most of his day-to-day on campus involves mentoring an estimated 10 to 15 students, guiding them through everything from what courses to take to how to pass the bar exam. This is how Berryhill approaches many endeavors in his life....

Congratulations to the finalists in the Alternative Dispute Resolution Intramural Competition: first place: Zachary Jones and Joseph (Chip) Harrell, and second place: Debra Stieglitz and Diane Hess-Hernandez! Fifteen teams came together on February 13 to compete. The teams were judged on their ability to work with their partner, to utilize the information they were given about their client, and to work amicably with the other team to reach an agreement that satisfies their client's wants, interests, and needs. First place winners Joseph Harrell (left) and Zachary Jones (right) Second place winners: Debra Stieglitz (left) and Diane Hess-Hernandez (right)

Regent University's School of Law Faculty members willingly share their knowledge and expertise beyond the classroom to spark scholarly debate and advance the practice of law. Their latest endeavors include the following. Regent Law Library Director Margaret Christensen and Assistant Director Marie Hamm have been selected for possible inclusion in An Oral History of Law Librarianship, part of the Spinelli’s Reference Shelf library on HeinOnline. Patrick Kehoe, former president of the American Association of Law Libraries will be on campus next Wednesday to conduct their video interviews for this honor.  Decisions on which videos to include in the library, and when they will appear are in the hands of a Hein editorial board, but interviews are available to anyone with HeinOnline library access, which includes almost all U.S. and Canadian law school communities, and a lesser number of law firm, county and courthouse law library users, providing great exposure to Regent Universi...

Whether headed to a legal interview, a judicial clerkship, or a first day of court, first impression is vital.  Regent Law’s Black Law Student Association (BLSA) provided some "Do's and Don'ts" of successful dress to help the law student body. The event began with a raffle and gift cards to help attendees put together their own professional wardrobes.  The audience then gathered for a “Legal Trends” fashion show that presented both appropriate and inappropriate attire for legal professionals.  A panel of judges provided commentary to the models, offered tips to the audience about dressing for the job, and answered audience questions. What Not to Wear to Court “The Robertson Hall Atrium was transformed and it was extremely rewarding to see our vision come to fruition,” stated Natasha Delille (’17), Public Policy and Initiative Co-Director of BLSA. “We are happy with the positive feedback we received and thankful for all of the sponsors, participants and attendees.” Th...

Regent University's School of Law Faculty members willingly share their knowledge and expertise beyond the classroom to spark scholarly debate and advance the practice of law. Their latest endeavors include the following. Assistant Professor Tessa Dysart presented at Campbell Law School on a trafficking panel moderated by the state’s Lt. Gov., and at the Savannah Law School Federalist Society on the topic of human trafficking.  You can find her impactful work on this area of law at The Protected Innocence Initiative: Building Protective State Law Regimes for America’s Sex-Trafficked Children and at Child, Victim, or Prostitute? Justice Through Immunity for Prostituted Children . Professor James Duane was on Channel 3 on Monday night, February 1. View the "Watch Your Words: Should You Talk to the Police?" news clip here . Professor Natt Gantt was interviewed in The Virginian-Pilot's article regarding Portsmouth Councilman Bill Moody. View the article here .  P...

When Ronald Fick, shareholder and attorney at Dunwody White & Landon, P.A. in Palm Beach, Florida, learned that his daughter, Allison Fick ’14 (LAW) received the highest grade in her Contracts I course, he proudly proclaimed that she would receive the book award for her efforts. But he didn't know that, at the time, Regent University’s School of Law had no book award program. “I decided I’d make a concerted effort to see if I could convince Regent to begin giving these awards to honor future students, like today’s recipients,” said Fick. Due to that effort, Regent launched its first set of book awards in January 2014. The second set was awarded in September 2014, just in time for Fick’s daughter to be presented with an award for the highest marks in her Corporate Tax class. “All’s well that ends well,” Fick said to LAW students, faculty and staff at the Ronald L. Fick Book Award Ceremony on Thursday, January 21st. This semester’s ceremony honored students who received the highe...

by Brett Wilson Tubbs The game is strong for Regent University’s School of Law (LAW) 2016 Moot Court competition teams. Each January, the top 16 Moot Court programs in the United States are invited to participate in the annual Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship at the University of Houston. Regent was selected to participate after being ranked 8th in the nation by the University of Houston Law Center at the conclusion of the 2015 competition season. Left to Right: Renee Knudsen, Marie Dienhart, Palmer Horst, and Coach Michael Hernandez Photo Credit: RUSL During the competition January 28-29, stu dents Renee Knudsen, Palmer Horst, and Marie Dienhart defended their way to second-place in the nation, just behind Georgetown as they competed with teams from schools such as Southern Methodist University, New York University and Texas Tech University. The Regent team also took home the award for best brief. The team was coached by LAW dean, Michael Hernandez. “The success of our t...

Regent University students benefit immensely from building relationships with their professors. A recent event illustrates why Regent is so special in this way. On February 3, 2016, former U.S. Attorney General and Robertson School of Government (RSG) Distinguished Professor John Ashcroft and his wife, Janet, hosted a barbeque dinner at their residence for students and faculty. “It was a unique pleasure to join the Ashcrofts in their residence to partake in food and fun,” said Jacob Stephens, '17, (RSG). It is a great time for School of Government students to unwind and get to know each other better in the midst of a busy semester. General Ashcroft, who has taught at Regent during the last dozen years and RSG Dean, Dr. Eric Patterson served barbecue and dessert to faculty and students alike. The evening included current events related activities as well as a time for governmental and political discussion. The General offered valuable insight to the students based on his time as gov...

The game is strong for Regent University’s School of Law (LAW) 2016 Moot Court competition teams. Each January, the top 16 Moot Court programs in the United States are invited to participate in the annual Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship at the University of Houston. Regent was selected to participate after being ranked 8th in the nation by the University of Houston Law Center at the conclusion of the 2015 competition season. Price Media Law Moot Court Team. Photo courtesy of Christy Hurst. During the competition January 28-29, students Renee Knudsen, Palmer Horst, and Marie Dienhart defended their way to second-place in the nation, just behind Georgetown as they competed with teams from schools such as Southern Methodist University, New York University and Texas Tech University. The Regent team also took home the award for best brief. The team was coached by LAW dean, Michael Hernandez. “The success of our teams is a testimony to the purpose and qua...

Regent University's School of Law Faculty members willingly share their knowledge and expertise beyond the classroom to spark scholarly debate and advance the practice of law. Their latest endeavors include the following. In December of 2015, Professor James Duane published a short essay, "The Extraordinary Trajectory of Griffin v. California: The Aftermath of Playing Fifty Years of Scrabble with the Fifth Amendment," with Stanford’s online Criminal Law Journal , available here on SSRN .  Connected to that piece and another article by Professor Duane on Fifth Amendment privileges ( view here ), this 3-minute video had been online for only two days and was viewed almost 5 million times.  It has now been viewed more than 8.5 million times.  Furthermore, this story at The Blaze provides a nice summary of the synergy of these events, all from scholarship and teaching well integrated.  This has made a great increase in our SSRN downloads as you can see from the right...

Allen Anjo (Law, RSG '13) Allen Anjo (RSG, Law ’13) and his wife, Julie, are missionaries and Legal Advisors to Youth With A Mission (YWAM), a missions organization that currently works in over 1,100 locations in more than 180 countries to send volunteer missionaries around the world to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Allen and Julie are part of the General Counsel’s office at the YWAM base in Kona, Hawaii, and are about to launch a School of, Advocacy, Law and Justice which will provide training in legal advocacy to missionaries who are passionate about seeing the justice of God come to the “least of these” throughout the world. Allen is originally from the small province of Nagaland in northeastern India, and he came to the United States in 2000 to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in business and computer science. The Lord then called  him to attend Liberty University in western Virginia. He said, “That is where I met Julie; she was among the inaugural class of the law school ...